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The fatal conceit of foreign intervention refers to the limitations faced by governments using discretionary power to address perceived problems in foreign societies. Drawing on evidence from the "Afghanistan Papers"—a collection of internal government documents compiled by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) and released in December 2019—we demonstrate how the failure of the U.S.-led intervention in Afghanistan to meet the stated objectives illustrates the fatal conceit of foreign intervention. We explore the limitations faced by foreign government interveners in three stages, reflecting distinct decision nodes within a means-ends framework in which the policies relating to foreign intervention are formulated and implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines higher education in Afghanistan. Based on qualitative research, including interviews with key policymakers and stakeholders, the paper examines the primary issues, challenges, progress, and future vision for higher education in the country. The research reveals that one of the most significant issues in the country in the post-Taliban era is female participation in higher education. It also shows the importance of alternative forms of higher education, such as two-year institutions, private education, and technical/ vocational education. The paper also discusses the emergence of quality assurance mechanisms and international partnerships with other universities. Regarding the future direction and vision for higher education, the paper reveals two primary focuses: preparing students for the labor market, and the potential for education to influence democratic values and social cohesion in a divided country.

Background: Through a nationally representative household survey in Afghanistan, we conducted an operational study in two relatively secure provinces comparing effectiveness of computer-aided personal interviewing (CAPI) with paper-and-pencil interviewing (PAPI). Methods: In Panjshir and Parwan provinces, household survey data were collected using paper questionnaires in 15 clusters, and OpenDataKit (ODK) software on electronic tablets in 15 other clusters. Added value was evaluated from three perspectives: efficient implementation, data quality, and acceptability. Efficiency was measured through financial expenditures and time stamped data. Data quality was measured by examining completeness. Acceptability was studied through focus group discussions with survey staff. Results: Survey costs were 68% more expensive in CAPI clusters compared to PAPI clusters, due primarily to the upfront one-time investment for survey programming. Enumerators spent significantly less time administering surveys in CAPI cluster households (248 min survey time) compared to PAPI (289 min), for an average savings of 41 min per household (95% CI 25–55). CAPI offered a savings of 87 days for data management over PAPI. Among 49 tracer variables (meaning responses were required from all respondents), small differences were observed between PAPI and CAPI. 2.2% of the cleaned dataset's tracer data points were missing in CAPI surveys (1216/ 56,073 data points), compared to 3.2% in PAPI surveys (1953/ 60,675 data points). In pre-cleaned datasets, 3.9% of tracer data points were missing in CAPI surveys (2151/ 55,092 data points) compared to 3.2% in PAPI surveys (1924/ 60,113 data points). Enumerators from Panjsher and Parwan preferred CAPI over PAPI due to time savings, user-friendliness, improved data security, and less conspicuity when traveling; however approximately half of enumerators trained from all 34 provinces reported feeling unsafe due to Taliban presence. Community and household respondent skepticism could be resolved by enumerator reassurance. Enumerators shared that in the future, they prefer collecting data using CAPI when possible. Conclusions: CAPI offers clear gains in efficiency over PAPI for data collection and management time, although costs are relatively comparable even without the programming investment. However, serious field staff concerns around Taliban threats and general insecurity mean that CAPI should only be conducted in relatively secure areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on long-term fieldwork in Badakhshan, a borderland province in the northeast of Afghanistan, the paper explores the role that opium poppy cultivation has played in a marginal high-altitude economy. Framed by the analytic of 'narco-frontiers' and the puzzle of the persistence of small farmers in uneven agrarian transitions, the paper investigates the diversity of market and non-market institutions that operate across the means of production of opium. Rather than seeing opium poppy production as the vanguard of an agrarian transition, it is suggested that it is more of a rearguard action to ensure survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid collapse of the Afghan state did not come as a surprise to those who are well-versed in the chequered history of the Law and Development Movement. While the Movement's one-size-fits-all modernization project has been largely rejected, such misguided efforts continue under the aims of "building the Rule of Law" or "improving governance." The fallout from the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is a stark reminder for states and multilateral organizations not to overlook the lessons of the Movement that may have been obscured by the different banners under which state- and market-building efforts have been pursued. From the Movement's sincere yet naïve efforts of state-building between the 1950s and 70s, to its swing to build and support markets under the Washington Consensus paradigm in the 80s and 90s, and a later emphasis on good governance through state institutions from the 2000s onwards, it is clear that top-down state-building efforts have had limited success. The paper argues that the failure of the Afghanistan mission may have been avoided if the U.S. had turned to the lessons learned from the law-and-institutions-building enterprises of the past 70 years. Instead, the failure to heed these lessons led to the building of a state akin to a house of cards. By overlooking the importance of embedded cultural institutions, the legitimacy of the state as perceived by its people, and the dynamic interaction between formal and informal institutions, the state-building project in Afghanistan was bound to fail. Following the takeover by the Taliban, the small gains made in Afghanistan over the past two decades on the issues of hunger, poverty, health, and education have seen rapid deceleration and require urgent attention. The critiques outlined in this paper, informed by the experience of the Law and Development Movement, are meant to inform, not discourage, global engagement in advancing the human development agenda in Afghanistan and other fragile contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The US-Taliban peace agreement has raised certain questions that need to be investigated and answered: Has the US achieved its goal in Afghanistan or not? Has the US, in these two decades of war on terror, really brought stability in Afghanistan? Was the withdrawal of US-led coalition forces from Afghanistan done with dignity? This paper attempts to investigate and answer these questions. The paper has also tried to see the role of neighboring countries post US withdrawal from Afghanistan. The US withdrawal has put Afghanistan in a lawless condition. The people of Afghanistan are at the mercy of Taliban which has not yet been recognized by any country. Afghanistan has been facing many problems at home as well as at international level. Officially, the Taliban government has not been able to establish embassies in any country, and it has no faith in its earlier ambassadors. It is mostly dependent on the unofficial support from China and Russia, as of now. A small state in all senses--economically, politically, geographically, and militarily--Afghanistan is prey to international politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The use of economic sanctions has grown dramatically in recent decades. Nevertheless, many arguments are presented in the public policy space regarding their effects on target populations. The author presents the first systematic analysis of the effects of sanctions on living conditions in target countries. Design/methodology/approach: This paper provides a comprehensive survey and assessment of the literature on the effects of economic sanctions on living standards in target countries. The author identifies 31 studies that apply quantitative econometric or calibration methods to cross-country and national data to assess the impact of economic sanctions on indicators of human and economic development. The author provides in-depth discussions of three sanctions episodes—Iran, Afghanistan and Venezuela—that illustrate the channels through which sanctions affect living conditions in target countries. Findings: Of the 31 studies, 30 find that sanctions have negative effects on outcomes ranging from per capita income to poverty, inequality, mortality and human rights. The author provides new results showing that 54 countries—27% of all countries and 29% of the world economy— are sanctioned today, up from only 4% of countries in the 1960s. In the three cases discussed, sanctions that restricted the access of governments to foreign exchange limited the ability of states to provide essential public goods and services and generated substantial negative spillovers on private sector and nongovernmental actors. Originality/value: This is the first literature survey that systematically assesses the quantitative evidence on the effect of sanctions on living conditions in target countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper introduces a conceptual lens for leading social change in slums and informal settlements. In line with this aim, the purpose of this case study is to describe the public problem-solving approach of a social change organization situated in an informal settlement through the lens of adaptive leadership, complexity theory and social change leadership (SCL). Design/methodology/approach: This paper follows an engaged reflection tradition. First, the author-practitioners describe an informal settlement case hereafter called ISC in southeast Iran where many people have historically remained undocumented and uneducated. Using complex adaptive systems theory, adaptive leadership and SCL as the conceptual lens, the paper analyzes ISC as a complex adaptive context in which the community and the government are in tension in solving problems, particularly illiteracy. The instrumental case study draws from participant observation and document analysis to describe and examine the endeavors of a community office operating within ISC. Through this reflective analysis, the authors illustrate how a social change organization can effectively tackle public issues like illiteracy within informal settlements. Findings: This paper applies complexity leadership theory to a social context. The study illustrates how social change organizations can support the transformation of informal spaces into adaptive spaces to enact social change. Originality/value: This paper reflects on engagement activity near the insecure borders of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. By extending an organizational-level theory to the public sphere, this paper contributes theoretically to the complexity theory literature. Moreover, it provides a practical insight for community development and slum upgrading projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given Washington's vast expenditure during its 20 years of operations in Afghanistan, the Taliban's ascent to power in August 2021, after defeating the Afghan National Security Forces, generated strong feelings of shame and anxiety for the USA. Coupled with a dissonance between the US withdrawal and its narrative on fighting terrorism, this eventually culminated in an ontological security crisis for the USA. This paper aims to provide an understanding on how the US elite tried to overcome this moment of crisis and re-establish the US ontological security. For this purpose, the paper elaborates on the existing literature on the link between securitization/desecuritization and ontological security. It argues that, in the aftermath of the withdrawal, the USA employed both securitization and desecuritization practices at the narrative level, accompanied concomitantly by actions at the relational level, to overcome the state's ontological security crisis ensuing from the Taliban's ascent to power. However, the results have been, at best, mixed. Through reviewing multiple sources, both internal and external to the USA, the article suggests that the US narrative has been partially challenged and hence failed to re-establish the US ontological security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Afghan refugee women settle in Germany to escape persecution by militant groups and social marginalization in Afghanistan, among other things. They face challenges in Germany, such as language barriers, demanding bureaucratic requirements from German administrations, and discrimination. Academic and public discourses promote the information and communication technologies (ICT)-enabled social inclusion of refugees into the host society. ICT is widely seen as an essential tool to support refugees. Against this backdrop, this paper presents a focus group study with 14 Afghan refugee women in Germany to understand their experiences with technology: How do Afghan refugee women in Germany experience ICT? What structural factors influence their interaction with technology? What are the design features in an application that can support their settlement in Germany? This paper uses a critical perspective inspired by Black feminist theory to foreground the dynamics of power in Afghan refugee women's experiences with ICT. The analysis reveals significant barriers to the participation of Afghan refugee women in German digital society, like digital illiteracy and the need for safety and privacy, making accessing technology difficult. Designs of ICT that may benefit Afghan women offer audio messages instead of text, real-time assistance, intuitive commands, and registration without an email address. Apart from the analysis of Afghan refugee women's interaction with technology in German society, this paper reflects on the German migration management infrastructure and its potential to adapt more to the communication practices of refugees, including offering inperson services for Afghan refugee women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses peace education focusing on how place-based experiences and collective memories stimulate local mobilisation for refugees fleeing from war. The Arctic Migration Route, located above 69th degree north, became an alternative to dangerous boat trips on the Mediterranean Sea, for people seeking safety and protection in the fall of 2015. During a few months, over 5,500 people from 35 nations, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran came to a municipality in north Norway with 10,000 inhabitants. The paper demonstrates how global conflicts far away, have important local consequences across borders and huge distances. Interviews with local authorities, teachers, voluntary workers constitute the main empirical material. By combining theories of place-based experiences and collective memories with phenomenology of practice, geographical location, collective and cultural memories across generations, are analysed as important driving forces for the local mobilization to help refugees. This approach opens for a wider perspective on learning, showing how climate, culture and history have important role as material and sociocultural education in this arctic border region in the north of Norway. Based on empirical data from a small local school, the paper will document how a local community can find solutions to globally produced problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I will examine the legal standards of gender persecution and the evolving descriptor gender apartheid as a way to describe the status of women in Afghanistan. The paper also examines other complementary forms of legal accountability procedures to vindicate Afghan women's rights and hold perpetrators accountable under crimes against humanity. Although the current locus of the paper is focused on Afghan women, it has larger implications for all other crimes of gender persecution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan banned all beauty parlors, stating cultural reasons that the existence of such parlors violates the tenets of Islam. They also cited another reason for shutting down beauty parlors: that it puts an unnecessary financial burden on a groom's family during marriages. The paper analyzes the policy decision by the Taliban government in light of the public-private divide, theories of Islamic feminism, and feminist understanding of the beauty industry. The author argues that sole application of either a feminist critique of the public-private divide or a feminist critique of beauty ideals fails to provide a holistic and a cogent solution to the problem faced by women in beauty industries all over the world, especially in Taliban-led Afghanistan. The paper also analyzes the ways in which Islamic feminism can better capture such inconsistencies and thereby provide an inclusive solution to the pertaining issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is a global threat to the environment and human health. Two of the main greenhouse gases that cause the greenhouse effect and raise global temperatures are carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides. In this review paper, we investigated the effects of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides on climate change and the effects of climate change on Afghanistan. We found that high concentrations of carbon dioxide, which is now CO2 levels, have increased by 50% than before the Industrial Revolution, contributing to a rise in global temperature and precipitation. At the same time, Nitrous oxide is an important greenhouse gas, with 310-fold higher potential for global warming than CO2 and leads to the depletion of stratospheric Ozone and other Nitrogen oxides, has a significant impact on plant health, including effects on chlorophyll levels, oxidative stress, and antioxidant responses. Afghanistan's climate change is predicted to increase the country's prevalence of illnesses linked to dust storms and poor air quality, especially in Kabul, the nation's capital. In addition, air pollution in Kabul is also likely to increase as a result of climate change. The alarming impacts of air pollution, with more than 3,000 deaths attributed to air pollution annually. Additionally, at least 700,000 individuals in Kabul have experienced various respiratory diseases. Due to climate change, Afghanistan's total glacier area has shrunk by 13.8%. In 2023, Afghanistan experienced early snow melt and below-average precipitation, causing second-season and irrigated crops to have less access to water. Reducing emissions and coping with the changing climate are essential steps towards tackling the complex issues these gases present and their wider effects on the environment and human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan has significantly exacerbated educational challenges for marginalized women and girls, deepening gender disparities and impeding socio-economic development. Addressing these issues, this article introduces the Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence Non-Formal Education System (BANFES), an innovative educational solution specifically designed for Afghan girls deprived of formal schooling. BANFES leverages advanced artificial intelligence technologies, including personalized data analysis, to provide customized learning experiences. Additionally, blockchain technology ensures secure record management and data integrity, facilitating a decentralized educational ecosystem where various nodes offer hybrid learning methodologies without intermediaries. This system not only adapts to individual learning speeds and styles to enhance engagement and outcomes but also employs an independent assessment mechanism to evaluate learners. Such evaluations promote transparency and maintain the quality and reputation of educational contributions within the network. The BANFES initiative also addresses implementation challenges, including local distrust and integration with existing educational structures, providing a robust model to overcome barriers to education. Furthermore, the paper explores the scalability of BANFES, proposing its application as a global strategy for non-formal education systems facing similar geopolitical and infrastructural challenges. By creating a secure, flexible, and learner-focused environment, BANFES aims to empower Afghan women and girls with essential skills for personal and professional growth, thus fostering socioeconomic advancement within their communities and setting a new standard for informal education worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The future and prosperity of Pakistan largely relies upon the nature of its relations with neighbouring Afghanistan. The strategic quandaries between Pakistan and Afghanistan like border issues and persistent cross-border terrorism directly affect Pakistan's domestic situation and are producing reverberating influence throughout South Asia. This paper sought to examine the strategic limitations influencing their relations significantly in the wake of American withdrawal from Afghan soil. Furthermore, elucidating the profound impacts stemming from the circumstances after the American exit, it explores the political dimensions and ramifications of their relations. To that end, this research builds multi-dimensional causal relationships and employs qualitative approaches. The study's findings depict that these strategic constraints are deep-rooted and multifaceted with implications for regional stabilization, manifesting through traditional security conundrums, disruption of trade routes, and obstacles to economic integration. The implications of this study accentuate the pressing need for coordinated measures to promote peace and stability in the region. It concludes by presenting some policy recommendations intended to lessen the existing challenges as well as encouraging a conducive environment to ameliorate relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the challenges and prospects associated with the adoption of Islamic banking in Afghanistan. Despite the global growth and acceptance of Islamic banking by approximately 50 countries by 1997, Afghanistan only embraced it between 2008–2009. The decision to convert conventional banks to Islamic ones, driven by the involvement of interest rates (riba) in the prevailing system, necessitates a thorough examination of the challenges and the need for an appropriate response. The study employs qualitative, analytical, and exploratory methods, reviewing secondary sources and conducting unstructured interviews with key stakeholders, including officials from the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), staff of Islamic banking institutions, experts in Islamic banking and finance, and consumers. The findings reveal that the challenges in promoting Islamic banking in Afghanistan are more complex and multi-layered than commonly understood, stemming from the legal system, regulatory capacities and mindset, banking services, and public perception. The paper emphasizes the importance of addressing these challenges comprehensively to safeguard the already fragile economic and financial sector. Failure to do so may lead to further deterioration. This research contributes to the existing body of knowledge by shedding light on the unique challenges and prospects of Islamic banking in Afghanistan, providing valuable insights for policymakers, regulators, and practitioners in shaping an effective transformation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper explores the use of structural metaphors in the daily conversations of Persian speakers and examines how these metaphors reveal deeper human experiences. In this kind of metaphor, a notion from one area is frequently utilized to create another (debate and controversy, which is a subjective idea but has a cultural element), such as war as a physical or cultural phenomena. Persian daily speech is known for using imagery and symbols, and animal metaphors are a significant aspect of this tradition. This paper analyses war metaphors used in the daily conversation of people in Afghanistan and delves into the meaning and symbolism behind each metaphor. The study was conducted using both field research and library research techniques. Each metaphor was analysed in detail, with a focus on the conflict and debate themes, their characteristics, and how they are used to convey deeper meanings. Through this analysis, this paper aims to uncover the use of animal metaphors as a means of revealing a deeper understanding of the metaphors in the Persian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The Afghanistan-China strategic relationship is multifaceted, characterized by economic convergences, security cooperation, and mutual diplomatic support. China's Belt and Road Initiative has played a significant role in deepening ties, especially through infrastructure development in Afghanistan. Purpose. In this paper authors tried to explore Afghanistan and China relations, how China plays an important role in the redevelopment of Afghanistan, discuss the prospects and challenges facing Chinese-Afghan relations, including from a regional perspective and also discussed how China fits into the vacuum left by the US withdrawal. Method. The method used applies a qualitative method that focuses on looking at social phenomena that occur in society. Results. At the same time, a rather stable Afghanistan free from threats by militant and terrorist groups could provide opportunities for China and other regional states to contribute to its post-conflict economic reconstruction and development. Conclusion. At the period since the Taliban took over an Afghanistan emptied of its foreign presence, there has been much more speculation that China will step in to fill the geopolitical, security and economic vacuum left by the West's withdrawal. China surely has direct interests in a stable, developed and well-governed Afghanistan, not least to prevent spillover and assets in the wider regions of Central and South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study undertaken analyzes three novels named as Earth and Ashes, A Thousand Rooms of Dream and Fear, and The Patience Stone, written by Atiq Rahimi. These novels tell the stories of families affected by the 1979 war. There is no direct reference to war and violence however, war keeps popping up in the textured background during the narration of the normal experiences of characters in the novels. These novels are enriched with the metaphors embedded in texts that complement the voice which is absent and yet it makes its presence felt throughout the text. The objective of the paper is to bring forth the role of metaphors in war literature. It concludes that metaphors are significant as on the one hand, they create a site for memory for both the part of reader and writer, yet on the other hand, they evoke pathos which invites the reader to mourn the loss of the war-torn community. This study is qualitative in nature and is conducted through the close textual analysis of all the mentioned texts under the lens of theories related to metaphors, war, memory and mourning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the challenges and responses to regional connectivity between Pakistan and Central Asia. The historical and geographical proximity of Pakistan and Central Asia highlights the importance of reviving the old Silk Route. Pakistan is often called the gateway to the Central Asian states due to its geostrategic location; its significance has further increased with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which holds a pivotal role in the region. However, regional connectivity faces numerous challenges. These include political, geographical, economic and infrastructural problems. Geopolitical factors, such as the involvement of external powers and competition for energy supplies, further complicate the situation. The paper in this regard discusses Pakistan's specific infrastructural and domestic challenges and the roles of regional and global states including neighboring Afghanistan, Iran, India, the major global players such as USA, Russia, China, and the European Union, and Turkiyey,in shaping the connectivity landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore how Afghanistan is represented in two mainstream Bollywood films from the pre-9/11 period using Orientalism as a theoretical framework. While much literature exists on Afghanistan being Orientalized in Hollywood films, Bollywood representations of Afghanistan have not been studied from similar critical lenses. With the recent takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban after a twenty-year-long war, it is more urgent than ever today to examine Bollywood representations of Afghanistan given the crucial importance of India as a key geopolitical entity in the region. The paper shall study two films from the pre-9/11 period in order to understand if Bollywood has Orientalized the region like mainstream Hollywood films. Bollywood films well known for taking their influences from Hollywood productions, make it likely to be the case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Afghanistan provides a significant geographical linkage for the regions of the Middle East, South Asia, and Western Asia; therefore, its stability is utmost important for regional as well as broader global accord. The two and half decades of the US military engagement inside Afghanistan had a qualified success as far as peace and stability goals were concerned. The Doha talks focused on the complete withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan and the internal dialogues among the Afghan stakeholders. Here, the United States, China and Pakistan’s stakes inside Afghanistan became very significant in the context of counter- terrorism and peace. However, the policies of these three significant powers diverge over major elements of security and peace in the region. This paper attempts to explore such divergence and convergence in the multinational peace building approach in Afghanistan. A mixed methodology approach is used to investigate such divergence and convergence in the multinational approach to Afghanistan in the region. The findings of the paper suggest that the two major powers, the US and China are strategically involved in countering each other’s influence and retaining their dominance in Central Asian region, including Afghanistan. For Pakistan on the other hand, the major adversary to contain and confine in the region is India. The paper argues that the three nations can benefit on a common ground if a multilateral approach to peace building is carried out prudently for the sake of a long-term peace and stability in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the encounter between the “First World American women” and “Third world Afghan women” is framed to inadvertently enact a form of representational violence in Liz Mermin’s documentary film, The Beauty Academy of Kabul. The paper shows that despite its ostensibly progressive stance of giving space to Afghan women’s voice, the film, serves to validate the new form the colonial self has taken in the globalized world - the humanitarian identity - and reaffirms the American imperial agenda. Employing Judith Butler’s insights in Frames of War, where she points out how the frame delimits the domain of representability and the confines of “reality” itself, the analysis explores how Mermin’s documentary frames the Afghan women as the first world audience is meant to recognize, grieve and intervene for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus pandemic, besides generating health distress, influences the socio-economic conditions of humankind. Every adolescent's lifestyle is affected by the virus. Healthy adolescents are not only key contributors to the forthcoming workforce but also a source of a country's human capital. The purpose of the article is to examine the efficacy of various Asian countries in regulating the spread of the coronavirus among adolescents. In addition to that, the paper also attempts to pinpoint the prime causes of the inefficiency of a country in regulating the same. The paper also examines the behavioural changes among adolescents across Asian countries in pre-and-post pandemic times. In this context, the study identifies the impact of adolescents' tobacco consumption, female political leadership, and accreditation on a country's efficacy to regulate adolescents' coronavirus infection. The study's empirical analysis covers twenty-one Asian countries. By using the Panel Stochastic Production Frontier, the study concludes that Kazakhstan is the most efficient country and Afghanistan is the least efficient country on the list. The inefficiency effects estimates conclude that adolescents' tobacco consumption decreases and good governance practices increase the efficiency of a country in regulating the spread of adolescent coronavirus infection. Additionally, the paper finds no significant behavioural changes among adolescents in pre-and-post pandemic times across Asian countries. The paper concludes with appropriate policy recommendations supported by empirical evidence. The paper also identifies its shortcomings and suggests potential future lines of inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the impacts of service learning (SL) on teaching sustainability competencies in an undergraduate tourism program at Bamyan University, Afghanistan. This study reports on tourism students' experiences in the SL course which taught five key sustainability competencies (collaboration, values thinking, action-oriented, systems thinking and integrated problem-solving). Design/methodology/approach: This paper assessed students' perceptions of their sustainability competencies gained during the implementation of the course in 2016 and 2017 through focus groups, reflective essays and participant observation. Findings: The results demonstrate how the SL experience led students to self-discovery, strong conceptualizations of sustainability and working relationships with community stakeholders. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to assess the impacts of a SL course in Afghanistan. The analysis provides valuable information for developing effective higher education programs, relationships of trust between students and community stakeholders and the empowerment of students to contribute to local solutions which serve a role in stabilization efforts in conflict-affected contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores why Afghanistan's centralized planning and budgeting policies, despite consistent failure to improve local participation and allocative efficiency, remained stable. Based on policy feedback theory, there are two explanations. First, policy actors, given their interests, often tend to keep the status quo unchanged; and second, policymaking processes play a facilitative role for policy actors. This paper explains how centralized policymaking processes enable policy actors to bypass specific constraints of institutional environment such as agenda setting, principalagent dynamics, information symmetry, and credible commitment to keep certain policies unchanged. With the recent collapse of Afghan state, the Taliban would most likely continue the centralized planning and budgeting policies given their past governance approach and their recent performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper provides a comparative analysis of Soviet military operations in Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan and Phase I Russian operations in Ukraine. The principal object of analysis is the employment of military force within the Soviet and later Russian military operational art outside of large-scale doctrinal conventional warfare. The principal thesis of the paper revolves around providing adequate evidence for two core postulations - the Soviet and later Russian militaries have historically relied in the case of escalation and use of conventional military force on the "military operation" as a method to utilise said military force in a low-intensity, non-kinetic approach where large-scale conventional land forces, in combination with airborne and special forces, would rapidly overwhelm an adversary's military and civilian capabilities to offer resistance; first-phase Russian operations in Ukraine in 2022 followed the provided historical model, encompassing all elements and methods previously employed, but were unable to repeat Soviet successes, failing due to a variety of factors, which had previously worked in favour of the Soviet military, but were not sufficiently present or counteracted. The paper conducts a comparative analysis by synthesising the key elements, which make up the matrix of a given "military operation" - political goals, military objectives, preparation and execution, and applies them in each of the three case studies - Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan and Ukraine. By analysing each of these elements, the paper provides proof of the identical approaches used by the Soviet/Russian militaries and also its subsequent conclusions on the inability of the Russian military to achieve success in Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ammonium nitrate and aluminium (AN–Al) has been used as a typical homemade explosive (HME) by non-state actors since the turn of the century. Despite the regulation applied to ammonium nitrate above 16% nitrogen content and an aluminium particle size below 200 µm, their use has been widespread in Afghanistan, Columbia, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Containers used to utilise AN–Al as a man-portable improvised explosive device (IED) are typically hexahedral in shape, not the spherical or hemispherical geometries used to theorise risk mitigation. This is particularly important in post-blast investigation where explosives of a non-ideal nature are often used in non-spherical containers. Given the breadth of HME available to criminals, the explosion performance of forty hexahedral containers filled with AN–Al of unknown manufacture is examined. Performance of the AN–Al is determined through the surface detonation of these containers on alluvial soil, with apparent crater volume compared to theoretical calculations for spherical charges of TNT detonated in that same medium. A conversion factor for hexahedral main charges to spherical charges is then established to achieve more accurate predictions of the explosion risk using Kingery-Bulmash and Bowen curves. The paper provides worked examples for practical application and a methodology by which predictions of charge mass in other mediums such as asphalt can be determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stand-alone price analysis of illicit opium and coca does not explain why smallholders turn to illicit crops for coping and survival. Under conditions of precarity, illicit crop markets can stimulate productivity. They generate returns that can tame crises and relieve pressures. To smallholders facing marginalisation, violence, and climate change – growing opium and coca, despite their illegality, can reduce or spread risks and provide more predictability. Thus, rather than fix on the 'invisible hand' of price theory, the focus should be on the 'visible hand' of political entrepreneurship, interdependent relationships, and the metrics of precarity. To do this, this paper retrospectively compares illicit crop prices before and after certain historical moments in Bolivia, Myanmar, Colombia, and Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) remains a major global public health problem. SAM cases are treated using ready‐to‐use therapeutic food (RUTF) at a dosage of ∼200 kcal/kg/day per the standard treatment protocol (STD). Emerging evidence on simplifications to the standard protocol, which among other adaptations, includes reducing the daily RUTF dosage, indicates that it is effective and safe for treating children with SAM. In response to a foreseen stock shortage of RUTF, the government of Afghanistan endorsed the temporary use of a modified treatment protocol in which the daily RUTF dosage was prescribed at 1000 kcal/day (irrespective of body weight) until the child achieved moderate acute malnutrition status (weight‐for‐height z‐score ≥ −3 or mid‐upper arm circumference [MUAC] ≥ 115 mm), at which point 500 kcal/day was prescribed until cured (modified treatment protocol [MTP]). In this paper, we report the results of this nonweight‐based daily RUTF dosage experience. Data of 2042 children with SAM, treated using either the STD protocol (n = 269) or the MTP protocol (n = 1773) from August 2019 to March 2021 in five provinces, were analyzed. The per‐protocol analyses confirmed noninferiority of MTP protocol when compared to STD protocol for recovery rate [93.3% vs. 90.2%; ∆ (95% confidence interval, CI) = 3.1 (−0.9; 7.2) %] and length‐of‐stay [82.6 vs. 75.6 days; ∆ (95% CI) = 6.9 (3.3; 10.5) days], considering the margin of noninferiority of −10% and +14 days, respectively. Weight gain velocity was smaller in the MTP protocol group than in the STD protocol group [3.7 (1.7) vs. 5.2 (2.9) g/kg/day; ∆ (95% CI) = −1.5 (−1.8, −1.2); p < 0.001]. The STD group had a significantly higher mean than the MTP group for absolute MUAC gain [∆ (95% CI) = 1.7 (1.0; 2.3) mm; p < 0.001] and the MUAC velocity [∆ (95% CI) = 0.29 (0.20; 0.37) mm/week; p < 0.001]. Our results confirm the noninferiority of a nonweight‐based daily dosage and support the endorsement of this modification as an alternative to the standard protocol in resource‐constrained contexts. Key messages: More evidence supporting the use of the nonweight‐based daily ready‐to‐use therapeutic food (RUTF) dosage for treating uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition (SAM), in specific contexts, is needed.Our real‐world prospective nonrandomized study showed that the fixed nonweight‐based daily RUTF dosage protocol is as effective as the standard weight‐based protocol for treating uncomplicated SAM in children <5 in the Afghanistan context.Our findings support the reflection of a nonweight‐based daily RUTF dosage in resource‐constrained contexts in national and global policies and guidelines to improve coverage of all children in need of treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the critical hydropolitics literature by introducing the power–interests–identity nexus framework and addresses how it shapes decisions and (re)actions to transform or maintain water conflicts. The framework is investigated using the Helmand/Hirmand river basin, shared by Afghanistan and Iran. It elucidates which factors led to the transformation of Iran–Afghanistan water conflicts and the signing of the 1973 Treaty, as well as the influential factors that have contributed to its maintenance in the 2020s. The results demonstrate using the framework provides comprehensive insight by identifying the influential latent factors of transboundary water arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objective: This study aimed to identify COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among medical students in Helmand, Afghanistan, and its contributing factors. The findings will be presented to key healthcare organizations for peer review and used to develop a regional Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) strategy to increase national vaccine acceptance among medical students. Methods: This study employed a structured approach consisting of three steps. First, a paper-based Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) questionnaire was developed and tested for efficacy and understanding. Second, using Yamane's formula to determine the appropriate sample size, a population-based stratified sampling method was employed to select 200 respondents from 937 medical students in 21 classes. Results: A survey conducted in February 2022 revealed a high percentage (38.6%, or 56 out of 145) of medical students hesitant to receive SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in Helmand, Afghanistan. Factors contributing to this hesitancy include a lack of information about COVID-19 vaccination, doubts about its adverse effects, and fear of long-term sequelae associated with immunization. Conclusion: The results of this study provide valuable insights for professors, policymakers, and health organizations to address factors contributing to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among medical students. Approaches such as RCCE campaigns, public awareness initiatives, and incorporating a dedicated vaccination chapter into the medical curriculum can minimize hesitancy and increase vaccine acceptance. Addressing vaccine hesitancy is crucial to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protect the health of medical students at higher risk due to their proximity to infected populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taliban 2.0 in Afghanistan took the world by surprise. This article investigates how this event was seen differently in varied contexts, such as neighboring Pakistan. Our research shows epistemological pluralism in Pakistan, i.e. how different groups use different ways of knowing (epistemology), being (ontology), and valuing (axiology) to explain and analyze Taliban 2.0. Conceptually, the paper draws on insights from the relationality theory to demonstrate the reasons behind such epistemological pluralism. The theory of relationality provides the grounds for epistemological pluralism, i.e. the mixed sentiments and feelings among respondents about the Taliban 2.0 in Afghanistan. Our research reports the perspectives of nine selected civil society activists about Taliban 2.0 in Afghanistan and its implications for Pakistan. The respondents were interviewed during the second quarter of the Taliban administering Afghanistan. Some called it the victory of Islam, the freedom of Afghans from foreign occupation, and the protection of the Pakistani border from Indian proxies. Others were worried about the risks of increased extremism and terrorism in Pakistan, including the rise of banned organizations like Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. This study intends to document the interviewee civil society activists' suggestions to the State of Pakistan for dealing with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why did the nuclear dominoes stop in Afghanistan? This paper is a logical analysis of this question. Nuclear dominoes are common in rival relations characterized by geographic proximity, ongoing military conflict, and mutual hostility. The U.S.– USSR–China–India–Pakistan cascade of nuclear weapons development is empirical evidence of this phenomenon. However, despite the development of nuclear weapons by its arch-enemy Pakistan, Afghanistan did not proliferate in response. This study identifies and validates the reasons why Afghanistan did not (or could not) develop nuclear weapons, categorized into threat, capability, and constraint factors. The most significant finding is that Afghanistan did not perceive Pakistan’s nukes as a threat in terms of intention. Of course, it is also possible to argue that Afghanistan lacked the capacity to bear the various costs of developing nuclear weapons and that structural constraints imposed by international nonproliferation commitments, great power coercion, and regional balance of power dynamics prevented it from doing so. However, the root cause was the symbiotic relationship between the Taliban regime and Pakistan, temporarily easing the enduring rivalry, resulting in a bias in threat perception. These findings are consistent with the constructivist view of the importance of “shared understanding” in threat perception and challenge the realist perception that nuclear dominoes are inevitable in rivalry relationships. They are also significant because they provide clues for peace and stability in East Asia, one of the regions most likely to experience nuclear dominoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multi-parameter ionospheric disturbance analysis of the total electron content (TEC), density (Ne), temperature (Te), and critical frequency foF2 variations preceding two significant earthquake events (2015 Mw 7.5 and 2023 Mw 6.3) that occurred in Afghanistan. The analysis from various ground stations and low-Earth-orbit satellite measurements involved employing the sliding interquartile method to process TEC data of Global Ionospheric Maps (GIMs), comparing revisit trajectories to identify anomalies in Ne and Te from Swarm satellites, applying machine learning-based envelope estimation for GPS-derived TEC measurements, utilizing the least square method for foF2 data and ionograms obtained from available base stations in the Global Ionosphere Radio Observatory (GIRO). After excluding potential influences caused by solar and geomagnetic activities, the following phenomena were revealed: (1) The GIM-TEC variations displayed positive anomalies one day before the 2015 Mw 7.5 earthquake, while significant positive anomalies occurred on the shock days (7, 11, and 15) of the 2023 Mw 6.3 earthquake; (2) the Swarm satellite observations (Ne and Te) for the two earthquakes followed almost the same appearance rates as GIM-TEC, and a negative correlation between the Ne and Te values was found, with clearer appearance at night; (3) there were prominent positive TEC anomalies 8 days and almost 3 h before the earthquakes at selected GPS stations, which were nearest to the earthquake preparation area. The anomalous variations in TEC height and plasma density were verified by analyzing the foF2, which confirmed the ionospheric perturbations. Unusual ionospheric disturbances indicate imminent pre-seismic events, which provides the potential opportunity to provide aid for earthquake prediction and natural hazard risk management in Afghanistan and nearby regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and efficient post-earthquake building damage assessment methods enable key building damage information to be obtained more quickly after an earthquake, providing strong support for rescue and reconstruction efforts. Although many methods have been proposed, most have limited effect on accurately extracting severely damaged and collapsed buildings, and they cannot meet the needs of emergency response and rescue operations. Therefore, in this paper, we develop a novel building damage heterogeneity enhancement network for pixel-level building damage classification of post-earthquake unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and remote sensing data. The proposed BDHE-Net includes the following three modules: a data augmentation module (DAM), a building damage attention module (BDAM), and a multilevel feature adaptive fusion module (MFAF), which are used to alleviate the weight deviation of intact and slightly damaged categories during model training, pay attention to the heterogeneous characteristics of damaged buildings, and enhance the extraction of house integrity contour information at different resolutions of the image. In addition, a combined loss function is used to focus more attention on the small number of severely damaged and collapsed classes. The proposed model was tested on remote sensing and UAV images acquired from the Afghanistan and Baoxing earthquakes, and the combined loss function and the role of the three modules were studied. The results show that compared with the state-of-the-art methods, the proposed BDHE-Net achieves the best results, with an F1 score improvement of 6.19–8.22%. By integrating the DBA, BDAM, and MFAF modules and combining the loss functions, the model's classification accuracy for severely damaged and collapsed categories can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the making of Bamiyan Buddhas beyond the Bamiyan valley in Afghanistan since 2002. Recounting the building and rebuilding of a monastic complex in Bangkok, the study focuses on one of these new Buddhas, more complete than the "original" Bamiyan Buddha of the dually inscribed grotto, "Bamiyanguha-Bamiyan Museum", at Wat Saket. In their global manifestations, the Bamiyan Buddhas have emerged as mobile sites, as place holders with direct and indirect citations to the destroyed Buddhas of the valley. The building of Wat Saket's Bamiyan Buddha is situated within larger transnational histories of planned, projected, rejected, and reproduced Bamiyan Buddhas, within stylistic decisions related to questions of shifting material media, scale, and iconography involved in copying and reproductions, in the context of Thailand's changing engagements with itinerance, multiplication, and copying strategies around Buddha images, and in national and global circuits of collecting, exhibitions, gift, and piety. The museum, specifically the cave-museum of Wat Saket, as a site of retinal and haptic vision which continues to challenge and blur the distinctions between curatorial visions, specialist pedagogy, visual instructions, aesthetic contemplation, and rapidly shifting and evolving complex of ritual practices and leisure, remains at the heart of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acquiring English as L2 and foreign language is different from context to context. It is important to remember that acquiring English needs suitable context and enough input in communication. Understanding of question words in EFL Context, especially the learners who learn English as a foreign language in Afghanistan was the new subject. The main purpose of this study is to characterize Wh-words on the performance of the learners who participated in ESP Courses at Badakhshan University and Borna Higher Education in Faizabad, Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan. Recently, some of these students graduated from Badakhshan University and Borna Higher Education and they occupied different positions in different national and international organization. The main criterion for recruiting of these students these organizations was knowing the fourth skills of English language. In this study, 50 subjects were selected from 150 students who participated in the exam. Among these subjects, 25 were female and who also graduated from different disciplines and participated in ESP classes. The task distributed for all these participants in a special large class and the data were collected. The data were analyzed based on quantitative research. Findings of this research represented wh-words and their movements in the sentences are sometimes complicated for the learners who use English as a foreign language, especially for intermediate level. They faced to challenges that they missed their using with auxiliaries and their movements from NP to CP positions. This paper ends with empirical search to represent the challenges to which the learners face when they use Wh-words in the sentences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the dramatic evacuation from Kabul airport in August 2021, the UK government proclaimed its commitment to a 'warm welcome' for Afghans. In this paper we draw on original qualitative research to explore the emerging experiences of evacuees, and other recent arrivals, during their first year in London. Using the narratives of our Afghans participants, as well as insights from key stakeholders, we show how they navigated slow, opaque bureaucratic processes and lack of communication with official agencies. As a result of these lengthy processes, many thousands of evacuees remained in temporary hotel accommodation for protracted periods. Drawing on the concept of 'everyday bordering', we explore the extent to which Afghan resettlement policies are achieving their objectives. We consider how such policies are birthed within a punitive immigration system, which is designed to 'wear down' migrants in the UK, regardless of their reason for migration. Moreover, we argue that the ad hoc response of the Home Office and the Foreign Office has created 'false distinctions' between categories of Afghan refugees, reinforcing notions of 'deserving' versus 'underserving' migrants. This distinction allows the government to present itself as humanitarian, 'rescuing' people from Afghanistan, while simultaneously maintaining its commitment to the 'hostile immigration environment'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The post-2019 period is a crucial timeframe in the context of the reappearance of Tehrik -e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) and other militant groups and the consequent rise of terrorist incidents in Pakistan. This paper aims to investigate the significant growth of terrorism in Pakistan as a threat to the country's internal security in the aforementioned era. This paper presents the concepts of internal security from the broader perspective of human and state security. The authors employ the situational method of qualitative approach encompassing various events and situations causing the intensity of terrorism in Pakistan in this phase covering two and half years (from January 2020 to June 2022). The concept of internal security is the perception of an act of keeping peace and maintaining law and order within the borders of a sovereign state by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. Besides the increasing number of terror attacks and casualties as compared with the previous years, this period is additionally important due to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the return of Afghan Taliban to the power corridors of the war-ravaged country, ostensibly with high hopes of controlling terrorism in the region, affecting security situation in Pakistan as well. It has been identified that terrorism in the country during 2020 had increased compared to the year 2019, and there was a sharp rise in 2021 and 2022, reinforcing a threat to the country's internal security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s several caches of New Persian documents have come to light in Afghanistan. These documents, written on paper, are now the most significant sources for understanding how New Persian in Arabic script was used as an administrative and legal language in the eastern Islamic lands between the eleventh and early thirteenth centuries before the Mongol conquest of Khurāsān. After a brief survey of the three main collections in which these New Persian paper documents are preserved today, this article presents a preliminary edition, translation and commentary on one of the New Persian documents held in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. The document, dated ah 608/1212 ce, is a record of court proceedings and the decision of a judge (qāḍī) in a lawsuit over water rights initiated by a woman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the remapping of the American landscape as a mass reproducible visual medium onto foreign territories - particularly Afghanistan - during the Cold War. A series of films produced by the US Bureau of Mines and later screened in these territories are the sites of analysis. These films were the source material that applied the American landscape in its many forms, climates and uses to the US's physical infrastructure projects during the time. As sights, these projects of infrastructure building are indicative of the colonial gaze US technicians used to reproduce these landscapes and their underlying systems of power and class around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Appropriating relevant elements from Iranian film scholar Hamid Naficy's formulation of an 'Accented Cinema' (2001) that addresses various aspects of diasporic filmmaking and filmmakers 'situated in the interstices of social formations and cinematic practices' (4) as guiding tropes for analysis, this paper focuses on the depiction of the post-Taliban period through a contextual and critical reading of Nelofer Pazira's first documentary film Return to Kandahar (2003) and her debut feature film Act of Dishonour (2009) on the topic of 'honour-killing.' The paper examines how these films portray 'accented' images captured and relayed by a diaspora Afghan woman filmmaker to appeal to distant and unversed Western/foreign audiences and film festivals. In addition to Naficy's formulation of the 'accented cinema', I argue that Pazira uses a formulaic accent and variances (also to be read as her emphases) in her depictions that are aimed specifically at appealing to Western audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]